NBCUniversal says it’s going to broadcast the 2026 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LX live in 4K HDR, and will also stream the events through its Peacock streaming service. However, it’s not clear if its coverage will be in native 4K resolution, or upscaled from 1080p.
As FlatpanelsHD explains, the Super Bowl has been broadcast in 4K resolution for several years already, but it has never been native 4K. Instead, broadcasting and streaming services use upscaling technology to transform a 1080p feed before transmitting it to their users.
It’s not clear if things will be different this year. In the case of the Winter Olympics, which takes place in Milan this year, some of the footage will actually be shot and transmitted in native 4K. The content will be produced by the Olympic Broadcasting Services, but it’s not clear if NBC will tap into the original 4K feed or an upscaled 1080p feed.
Of course, 4K resolution is nothing new for either event – unless NBC does use the native stream – but the addition of HDR certainly is. This means viewers will not only see more finer details, but also enjoy a more vivid experience thanks to the expanded dynamic range of colour and luminance, making it feel altogether more real, as if they’re watching the action with their own eyes.
The 4K HDR transmissions will be available through the NBC broadcast network in the U.S. and through the Peacock streaming service globally, the company said. The Winter games will kick off on February 8, with coverage beginning at 12:00 PM (7 a.m. ET) on NBC and Peacock. There will then be several hours of pre-game coverage of Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, before the game begins at 11:30 PM, followed by Primetime in Milan, starting at around 3:45 AM GMT on February 9. What that means is that sports fans will be treated to a full 17 hours of non-stop 4K HDR coverage on what NBCUniversal says is the “biggest day in sports”.
At this juncture we should note that neither NBC’s broadcast channels nor the Peacock streaming service isn’t available directly to U.K. viewers. However, most of Peacock’s content can be accessed through a number of different Sky TV packages. Alternatively, you can sign up for Now’s Entertainment Membership, which costs £9.99 per month, to access Peacock.
The other way to do it is to download the Peacock app directly and sign up using a VPN. So long as you have a PayPal account, you’ll be able to pay for whichever subscription you want and access both the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl in all of their 4K HDR glory.
As an added benefit, Peacock will be extending its Multiview feature, which is already available on TVs, to mobile devices, meaning that viewers will be able to watch up to four live feeds at once during its Winter Olympics coverage.
The events kick off a busy year for Peacock, which also plans to become the world’s first streaming service to offer Dolby Vision 2 content. It hasn’t said exactly when it will do so, and that’s not a surprise because there are currently no Dolby 2-compatible TVs available to buy just yet, but the first models are expected to go on sale by the summer.
